| A Park For Minerva |
 |
Few park visitors give much thought to how national parks are established,
but dedicated park boosters will probably mention the names of Ferdinand
Hayden (Yellowstone), John Muir (Yosemite), and Enos Mills (Rocky
Mountain) when asked to name people who promoted the founding of
national parks. These were outdoorsmen in keeping with the rugged
and heroic western landscapes. Asked to name a woman connected with
the founding of a national park, a few might offer Marjorie Stoneman
Douglas as a champion of Everglades National Park. |
|
|
| Not many will recall Minerva Hamilton Hoyt and her tireless efforts on
behalf of California desert protection. In fact, without her leadership,
Joshua Tree National Park might never have become part of the National
Park System. How a transplanted southern belle born on a Mississippi plantation
came to become a staunch backer of the protection of desert landscapes
is perhaps one of the more unlikely stories in the annals of national park
history. |
| Minerva Hamilton led a genteel early life attending finishing schools
and music conservatories. Her marriage to Dr. Sherman Hoyt led her away
from the deep south to New York and eventually to the Pasadena area where
she immersed herself in southern California high society and civic causes.
She demonstrated talent as an organizer of special charity events and developed
a passion for gardening. Gardening introduced her to some of the native
desert vegetation commonly used in southern California landscaping. Trips
to the desert instilled in Ms. Hoyt a strong appreciation for the austere
beauty and wonderful inventiveness of desert plants that somehow managed
to thrive in the harsh climate. She also saw the widespread wanton destruction
of native desert plant life by thoughtless people who dug up, burned, and
other wise destroyed so many of the cacti and Joshua trees that Minerva
found beautiful. |
| Following the deaths of her son and husband, Minerva dedicated herself
to the cause of protection of desert landscapes. She organized several
successful exhibitions of desert plant life that were shown in Boston,
New York, and London. She founded the International Deserts Conservation
League, became its first president, and adopted a goal of establishing
parks to preserve desert landscapes. Ms. Hoyt was tapped by noted landscape
architect, Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. to serve on a California state commission
formed to recommend proposals for new state parks. She prepared the commission’s
report on desert parks and recommended large parks be created at Death
Valley, the Anza-Borrego Desert, and in the Joshua tree forests of the
Little San Bernardino Mountains north of Palm Springs. |
| However, Ms. Hoyt became convinced that the best option for preservation
of a large park to preserve desert plants was through the National Park
Service. She began a carefully organized campaign to achieve her goal.
Ms. Hoyt hired well known biologists and desert ecologists to prepare reports
on the virtues of the Joshua Tree region. She was introduced to President
Franklin Roosevelt whose New Deal administration became active in the establishment
of national parks and monuments as a jobs-creation initiative. Ms. Hoyt
soon developed an ally in Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes. |
|
| Minerva had a major success when President Roosevelt asked the National
Park Service to prepare a recommendation on the site. Problems with the
inclusion of certain railroad lands forced a reduction in the size of the
proposed park from over one million acres to a more modest 825,000 in the
final proposal. On August 10, 1936, President Roosevelt signed a presidential
proclamation establishing Joshua Tree National Monument. Minerva finally
had her grand desert park. |
|
| by Chief of Interpretation Joe Zarki |
|
Top
of Page | Previous
Page | Joshua Tree Home
|
 |
http://www.nps.gov/jotr/culture/history/mhoyt.html
last modified: 06/01/05
web editor: Sandra kaye |
